290 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Nitrogen Potash Phosphoric 



lb. lb. Acid lb. 



per acre, per acre, per acre. 



Loss of essential fertilis- 

 ing constituents by a crop 

 of 1.0U0 lb. made tea 



per acre .. 45 22} 8 



Essential constituents in 

 prunings from a hard 

 plucked pruned field un- 

 manured per acre per 



annum Lowcountry . . 17 - W 7'75 10 - 28 



Prunings from bushes care- 

 fully plucked and pruned 

 and lightly manured per 

 acre per annum Low- 

 country .. 47-60 07-12 20-66 



Prunings from an un- 

 manured well pruned 

 and plucked medium ele- 

 vation estate old coffee 



land per acre per annum 35-35 17'46 5'08 

 Prunings from a highly 

 manured well plucked 

 and pruned medium 

 estate large well devel- 

 oped bushes per acre per 



annum .. 101-48 78'00 23'83 



The above would indicate that the burying of 

 prunings is clearly cumulative in its effects and 

 may safely be carried out except in cold bleak 

 situations and in stiff soil, or where Rosellinia 

 or other allied root pests are distinctly trouble- 

 some. The total cultivated area is 1,121 acres or 

 K303 per acre on the paid up capital of the Com- 

 pany say £20 4s Od sterling— the 694 acres of 

 Rubber including the cost of land stands us on 

 3lst December 1908 in R22P51 per acre with 120 

 acres now in bearing. The Rubber crop for 

 1908 was 8,6S3 lb. and realised R3'06 per lb. 

 nett which may be considered satisfactory 

 as prices were poor in the early part of this 

 season. The estimate for 1909 is 20,000 lb. 

 The cost of upkeep of the Rubber clearings is 

 now very small, weeding varying from 30 cents 

 per acre per month to Rl per acre that being 

 the highest rate we are now paying. Mr. 

 Callander is to be congratulated on his thorough 

 work in this respect, he being fully alive to 

 the necessity of removing all weeds before 

 they seed, the only method whereby cheap and 

 efficient work can be secured. Real clean 

 weeding, means as a rule, labour well under 

 control, with the full advantage that it can be 

 efficiently adjusted, to requirements without 

 waste. A contract for a Rubber Factory has 

 been given out, coolies are ample for require- 

 ments and all the coast advances are quite safe. 

 They stand in at R22 '20 per head. With these 

 remarks I beg to move the adoption of the report. 



THE GOVERNMENT MYCOLOGIST ADVO- 

 CATES BURNING OF PRUNINGS. 



The question at issue is whether the burning 

 or burying of tea prunings is the most econo- 

 mical and safe method of disposing of them. 

 Mr. Joseph Fraser has given particulars of 

 a system of cultivation employed upon a 

 certain estate, which included the burying of 

 prunings. The estate in question showed excel- 

 lent results from the commencement of this treat- 

 ment. Mr. T. Petch, the Government Mycologist 

 — an advocate of the burning of prunings —favours 

 us with the folio wing letter criticising M r. Fraser's 

 conclusions. Mr. Petch is not prepared to 



admit that the results, quoted by Mr. Fraser, 

 are due to the systematic burying of prunings. 

 There is nothing to show, he argues, that 

 the improved yield is not due to the other com- 

 ponent parts of the scheme of cultivation ; or to 

 justify the belief that the results would not have 

 been the same, had the prunings not been buried. 

 Mr. Petch reasons ably and ingeniously from a 

 scientific standpoint ; but we hardly think his 

 arguments will convince the practical planter, who 

 is seeking for the best method of economically 

 disposing of his prunings and at the same time 

 getting the maximum yield from his tea. It is 

 demonstrated by Mr. Fraser that a system of 

 cultivation which includes as an essential part 

 the burying of prunings results in substantially 

 increased crops. It is, to use an Americanism, 

 " up to ■' the critics of this system to demon- 

 strate that equally good or better results, 

 can be secured by the same system minus the 

 burying of prunings. As matters stand, if Mr. 

 Fraser, as is asserted, supplies no data to shew 

 that the burying of prunings contributes largely 

 to these results, Mr. Petch equally fails to 

 prove that it does not. The ordinary " man 

 in the tea," not possessed of the same deep 

 scientific knowledge as Mr Petch and Mr Fraser, 

 will be content with the knowledge that here 

 is a successful system of cultivation of which 

 burying prunings is said to be an essential part ; 

 he will be content to follow the system and 

 secure increased crops until it is demonstrated 

 — if it can be— that the same results can be 

 secured without burying the prunings. Mr 

 Joseph Fraser is a busy man, who has fre- 

 quently declared time will not permit him to 

 carry on newspaper controversies ; but there are 

 one or two points in Mr Petch's criticism, on 

 which a brief statement in reply would be 

 welcomed and might not necessarily require to 

 be followed by others. 



Mr. T. Petch's Criticism of Mr. Joseph Fraser's 

 "Neboda'' Statement. 



Feb. 18th. 



SiR,-The figures quotod for Mahawale (see page 

 188 of last month's issue of T.A. and Mag. of C. 

 A.S. )and other estate must be very satisfactory re- 

 ading for the shareholders, but they give no infor- 

 mation whatever on the point at issue. And I may 

 forestall those who think that this may be 

 answered by stating that the financial side— and 

 not the theoretical side — is of more importance 

 to the employer, by pointing out that there is 

 nothing to indicate that th». same results would 

 not have been obtained if the prunings had been 

 omitted. 



Consider the case of Mahawale: (1) Prunings 

 are buried and (2) the land thereby cultivated 

 to some extent, (3) Manure has been applied, 

 (4) Albizzia leaves have been buried, (5) Rubber 

 has been planted through the tea. And the crop 

 since this was begun in 1904 has been 482 ; 552; 

 578; 746, and 807 lb. per acre per annum. But 

 why select No. 1, and deduce that the burial 

 of prunings is beneficial? Should I not be 

 equally justified in assuming from the data that 

 interplanting with rubber is beneficial? There 

 are five factors, and it is impossible to separate 

 them. It is magnificent, but it is not experiment, 



