Edible Products. 



18 



[July, 1911. 



draining coconut estates on hard soils 

 and land with an undulating lie is the 

 opposite of what it is on up-country 

 estates. On coconut estates the cutting 

 of drains or trenches should be to catch 

 all the rain water that falls on it, and to 

 allow it tc pass through, not over, the 

 soil. On up-country estates contour 

 drains are cut to carry away the rain 

 water. This is necessary, as the rainfall 

 up-country is heavy, aud the lay of the 

 land is generally steep. If the soil be too 

 saturated with water, there will be the 

 fear of whole hillsides sliding into the 

 valleys, especially where the soil overlies 

 slab rock. A few years ago Mr. Corytou 

 Roberts suggested catch-water trenches 

 for rubber estates, and very useful they 

 will be. 



The draining I am, however, referring 

 to is different from the draining of low 

 ground, which is generally done when 

 lands are opened and planted to drain 

 off superfluous moisture. I lay great 

 stress on the absolute necessity for catch- 

 water drains on undulating land and for 

 hard soils. There are two systems in 

 vogue. The most common one, and that 

 usually practised by villagers, is to throw 

 the soil cut from drains on their upper 

 side. This system is more correctly 

 terracing. The soil being thrown on the 

 upper side of the drain effectually pre- 

 vents rain water finding its way into 

 them. Rain water and silt are arrested 

 by the banks of earth, and find their 

 way out at the lowest level. What I 

 practice and preach is for drains to be 

 cut as nearly as possible at right angles 

 to the slope of the land irrespective of 

 the lines of the coconut trees. The earth 

 should be formed into a bund on the 

 lower side, so as to increase the capacity 

 of the drain to catch water. They should 

 not be of one continuous length, as, 

 unless they are traced and cut absolutely 

 level, the arrested water will find an 

 outlet at the lowest point, and the re- 

 medy will prove worse than the disorder 

 it was meant to cure, The drains should 

 be cut in sections about 25 feet, leaving 

 intervals of about 18 inches between the 

 sections. The bottom of the drain should 

 be so made that the water from one 

 section should not find its way into 

 another. The ends of the drain should 

 be slightly rounded to prevent the water 

 flowing out. 



These drains can be gradually filled up 

 with husks, coconut branches, and weeds, 

 and when quite covered over new ones 

 should be cut. Another benefit of these 

 drains is that they help towards the 

 aeration of the soil. Drains are useful 

 on flat land as well, whatever the texture 

 of the soil. They can be used as recep- 



tacles for the husks and branches, which, 

 in decaying, enrich the soil. In such 

 places the drains should be wide and 

 shallow, so that a large surface may be 

 enriched with humus. Here, too; new 

 drains should replace those that are 

 filled up and covered over. 



Liming. — This is a very necessary 

 branch of agriculture, which is almost 

 entirely neglected in Ceylon. I do not 

 intend writing a dissertation on lime, 

 though a paper could be written exclu- 

 sively on this one subject. The action of 

 lime on soil is partly physical and partly 

 chemical. It gives cohesion to a light 

 sandy soil, and renders a hard soil friable. 

 It is specially useful on alluvial and 

 clayey soil. By its chemical action it 

 sets free plant food which exists in an 

 insoluble condition. Perhaps its most 

 important attribute is that it assists the 

 work of nitrifying bacteria. It should 

 be applied to the land after it has been 

 tilled or ploughed, and to trees a few 

 months before the application of manure, 

 so that it may have time to revert to the 

 carbonate form by the action of the at- 

 mosphere and rain. Unless this chemical 

 change occurs, the nitrogen in a manure 

 that may be applied will be dissipated as 

 ammonia. The action of manure will be 

 increased by a previous application of 

 lime to the soil. Now, as to the quantity 

 of lime that should be applied per acre. 

 In European agriculture it U9ed to be 

 applied at the rate of six to eight tons 

 per acre at intervals of five to six years, 

 but I believe this harmful system has 

 now been abandoned. I advised a gentle- 

 man who consulted me about the treat- 

 ment of a heavy alluvial soil to apply 

 about ten bushels of lime per acre bien- 

 nially. He was more than pleased with 

 the result of the first application in the 

 improved texture of the soil. It became 

 quite friable. Whether he is continuing 

 the application I cannot say. I think 

 ten to twelve bushels per acre, according 

 to the texture of the soil, every altern- 

 ate year, after ploughing and a few 

 months before the application of manure, 

 will give encouraging results. 



Manuring is the returning to the soil 

 of the elements of fertility removed 

 from it by cropping. The soil has been 

 aptly likened to a bank in which the 

 amount of credit is measured by its 

 fertility. Crops are drafts on the bank. 

 Their removal, without returning the 

 equivalent in the shape of manure, 

 results in the diminution of the amount 

 at credit, or, in other words, in the im- 

 poverishment of the soil. Accepting 

 the definition of manuring at the begin- 

 ning of this paragraph, I have in prac- 

 tice always endeavoured to return to 



