and Magazine of the Ceylon Agricultural Society,— October, 1911, 865 



the application of artificial manures, in addi- 

 tion to green manuring, and it is shown here, 

 as has been found in English agriculture, where 

 stable manure comes into question, that it is 

 more economical to apply a medium quantity of 

 stable manure, and to supplement this with 

 artificial manures. 



It is a common belief that increase in quan- 

 tity is gained at the expense of quality, and to 

 ascertain whether any truth lay in this state- 

 ment, Mr. Nordheim sent samples of the tea 

 from each plot to the Tea Expert Bureau, 

 Bandoeng. These samples were only distin- 

 guished by numbers, and in this way the tea 

 expert had no idea as to the purpose tor which 

 this test was required. Taking as a standard 

 for comparison the best quality Assam tea, the 

 report of the specialist was as follows :— 



1. (Fully manured plot.) Best quality, fine 

 aroma, of great strength, and tine, clear infusion. 



2. (Without potash.) Inferiorqnality, not the 

 same strength, placed in Class 2. 



3. (Green manuring only.) Still inferior to 

 No. 2. 



4. (Unmanured.) Very inferior quality. 

 From the second experiment, samples were 



also sent to the tea expert, and the results 

 corroborate the above statement, except that 

 the sample from the "unmanured plot " proved 

 to be of bettor quality than the " without 

 potash " and "green manuring only" samples. 



Here, then, we have convincing proof of the 

 value of potash manures to tea plantations. In 

 this case, the addition of potash manures has 

 given not only a profitable increase, but, 

 at the same time, has produced a first-class 

 quality of leaf, which is bound to command 

 always the top price in the market. Planters 

 are beginning to realise the benefits due to the 

 application of artificial manure, and especially 

 potash manure, but there are still many who 

 adhere to the "rule of thumb " and haphazard 

 methods of cultivation and manuring, and to 

 them we commend the perusal of these results, 

 so as to convince them that it pays, and pays 

 well, to adopt the more modern methods of 

 tropical agriculture. — H. efc C. Mail, Sept. 1. 



THE F. M. S. IN 1910. 



THE CHIEF SECRETARY'S SURVEY 

 OF THE YEAR. 

 Agricultural Figures. 

 The agricultural acreage, and including padi 

 or horticulture, is placed at 396,259 acres, an 

 increase of 42,870 acres over the previous year. 

 The following return gives the principal acre- 

 ages planted for the past five years. 



Coconuts. Rubber. Coffee. 



1906 105,000 99,230 9,708 



1907 112,560 126 235 10,833 



1908 118,697 168,n48 8,431 



1909 123,815 196,953 5,885 



1910 130,344 245,774 6,468 



The following return shows the enormous in- 

 crease in the rubber industry, 



Rubber Statistics, 1909 and 1910. 



1909. 1910. 



No. of estates 377 435 



Acreage in possession 500,431 579,598 

 Acreage planted to 



December 31st 195,953 245,774 



Exported, lb. 6,087,815 12,212,526 



Value, exports 114,455,982 $38,466,140 



Price of rubber 

 per lb. 5/0i to 9/84 4/0 to 11/104 



The system adopted by some estates of grow- 

 ing catch-crops for four to five years with the 

 object of obtaining revenue whilst the rubber 

 is not in the producing stage materially re- 

 tards the growth of the rubber and is con- 

 demned by the Director of Agriculture ; as 

 pointed out by him, unless the stumps are 

 afterwards removed at considerable expense, 

 they are reservoirs for root disease. He advo- 

 cates clean weeding, but when labour is in- 

 sufficient for this he considers a cover crop may 

 b« used : experiments are being made by the 

 di j partm'«?tot in this direction with the object of 

 ascertaining the most serviceable crop. 



Of a total area of 27,750 square miles the area 

 of reserve forests is represented by an area of 

 1,008 square miles : during the year under re- 

 port 259 square miles were added to the reserve. 

 Further areas amounting to 167 square miles 

 were proposed as reserved but not finally 

 gazetted; also a large camphor forest in the 

 Rumpin district of over 100 square miles was 

 explored and partly demarcated. 



THE PRESENT HIGH PRICE 

 OF COFFEE. 



The older generation of planters and 

 merchants look upon coffee in the light of a 

 discarded lover, grown old and wrinkled and 

 sadly changed from the days of her young and 

 joyous youth. They occasionally hear of her, 

 some meet her at rare intervals while a very 

 small minority even yet cling to the old allegi- 

 ance forgetting the horror of the past in the 

 thought chat in the days of her first youth be- 

 fore the dread malady overtook her she was a 

 good and generous friend. Coffee has become 

 of so small account in Ceylon that we need say 

 no more than refer to the year 1875 when 

 873,654 cwt. of plantation and 114,674 of native 

 ccffee were exported from Ceylon— or better 

 still to 1870 which gave a total of 1,013,904 cwt. 

 of both kinds of which 885,728 cwt. of " planta- 

 tion " kind was gathered from 160,000 acres in 

 full bearing and 25,000 acers of young coffee. 

 Now there are, approximately, but 900 acres 

 (Arabian and Liberian) and the 1909-1910 export 

 of both kinds was only 1,329 cwt. When we 

 read, therefore, of high prices ruling elsewhere 

 for the product we are bound to feel, if not a 

 pang of jealousy, a feeling of keen regret at 

 what might have been. That prices are rising 

 there can be no doubt. The price of the 

 standard quality of coffee in New York, " No. 7 

 quality Rio," for instance, was 10 09 cents on the 

 28th June last, and, except during a few weeks 

 in December and January last, it was the 

 highest that had been reoorded within the last 



