354 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [November i, 1889 
Mysore is exceptionally favoured by the cheapness 
of labour, and abundance of local manure pro- 
curable, both in bulk and in the various oily poonacs. 
I used to buy cattle dung at a very cheap rate from 
the villages ; and that, with estate cattle-sheds, 
tank-oleanings, farm yard compost, pulp, and 
scrapings of grass plots, formed a fine mass for the 
mule-carts to run out, months before, to depots near 
the fields to be manured. Then oily rich poonacs 
of various sorts used to be brought to the door, and 
bones, too, galore, for is it not a country of drought 
where cattle die and vultures soar? It was found, 
however, that it paid to get bones and poonac, in 
any desired proportion prepared by Mr. Hart of 
Binny's Mills, Bangalore, where the oil of the poonac 
lubricated the teeth of the bone-crusher, and the 
mass was thus thoroughly mixed. 
Three proofs, that Ceylon soil cannot be named 
alongside that of Mysore, are 
1st. That in Mysore land can be planted 
several times over and produce good plants. 
2nd. That in Mysore weeds can be allowed to 
cover the coffee at the end of the monsoon and yet 
do no visible damage. 
3rd. That in Mysore, where cultivation is 
thoroughly carried out, you can drive your stick 
well into the soil, and the subsoil is never touched. 
On most estates in Ceylon the whole place is 
subsoil hard, and washed and baked and scraped. 
How can you think of ever attempting Mysore 
cultivation there ? 
To sum up, humidity, hard subsoil, dearness 
of labour, cost of maourial Bupplies, contract 
weeding, are all against the cultivation of 
ooffee under shade. Take the three places, 
Dumbara, Koslanda, and Badulla ; and learn 
gradually and painfully the necessary ex- 
perience, supported by the necessary faith and 
capital ; and if this succeeds the cultivation can 
be extended. I cannot go into the question of 
suitable trees save recommending Ficus glomerata, 
jak, and grevillea. 
It would be well worth the while to enlist Mr. 
Hunt's assistance in the procuring of varieties of 
shade recommended by him and also the ordering 
of coffee seed from him by those who intend to 
give the cultivation a fair trial. The price of 
ooffee surely iH an inducement ; and what pays 
better than coffee ivhen it bears ? ! One day's pick- 
ing of fruit on a coffee estate will nearly equal a 
month's worry on a tea estate. Who knows this 
better than the Ceylon planters ? Mr. Hunt's adver- 
tisement of seed is opportune, as I have had numer- 
ous applications as to where to get Coorg seed, 
— one coming all the way from Perak. 
W. A. TYTLEE. 
Tea in the Nobtheen Disteicts of 
Ceylon. — A tea proprietor north of Kandy thus 
expresses his dissatisfaction with recent experi- 
ence of weather : — " We have had a rough time 
of it this year, and tea estimates are terribly 
behind. I would be ashamed to mention the 
magnificent break-down in our places. The esti- 
mate properly burst up. I take comfort, however, 
that this enforced rest which the tea has 
enjoyed — and which I have not — will have a good 
effect in the future, in the shape of overflowing har- 
vest. Meanwhile with these fine prices, and the small 
returns, you have the pride taken out of you 
and a humble spirit takes its place. The wet 
and cold wind is what has done it. Commend 
me to the life of an agriculturist, if you want 
to realize to the full your dependence on Pro- 
videnoe." 
SALT IN COCONUT CULTIVATION. 
One of the objects I had in view when penniag 
my contributions on this subject has been attained. 
It has attracted the attention of the Press. Would 
that the attention of the Association which avowedly 
represents Native Agriculture and of the Government 
will finally be arrested ! 
I will now, with your permission, notice the article 
in the Observer on salt as manure. It is asked of 
the coconut palm, " Why does it specially love lit- 
toral formations and flourish in the ocean breezes ? 
Is it solely for the sake of a soil and atmosphere 
largely impregnated with salt ? " Not solely, for salt 
is not the one and ouly food of the palm, although 
it is a very important part of its food. From ob- 
servation I should say it loves a free foil with water 
within easy reach of the roots, as much as a soil 
impregoated with salt. Can anything be better than 
the trees one sees in the Cinnamon Gardens of 
Colombo, both as regards growth and fruitfulness, 
growing on as free and hungry a soil as is to be 
met with anywhere ? This soil, though not impregnated 
with salt, must have a considerable quantity of it 
in its composition, being within the influence of salt 
laden breezes. The further we go inland, the less 
are w e within the influence of salt breezes, and the 
farther we are from the natural conditions under 
which coconuts grow. I therefore think we ought 
to comply as much as lies in our power with those 
natural conditions by increasing the porosity of our 
soils and by applying salt to them. 
I am aware that there is a difference between sea 
water and salt crystals, and became first acquainted 
with it in the seventies, when the minds of everyons 
interested in coffee were exercised to devise remediee 
to circumvent leaf disease. Mr. Northmore, then a 
Merchant in Colombo, thought he discovered a remedy 
for it in sea water, because a Liberian coffee tree 
growing in a corcqwund at Kollupitiya was free from 
leaf disease- In a letter he wrote to the Observer, 
he gave an analysis of sea water, showing that it 
has many constituents dissipated by evaporation into 
salt. He therefore went to the expense of sending 
up to Whyddon in Pussella.wa, a property he ther 
owned, sea water instead of salt for the purpose of 
experiment. All this simply to shew that I was not 
ignorant of the difference between sea water and 
salt. 
I am aware that salt in large quantities is fatal 
to vegetation. I do not advocate its use in unlimited 
quantities to our soils, for there is a grand difference 
between our soils and those on the sea shore. Our 
soils are clayey and retentive, owing to their constituent 
particles being closely— too closely— packed, while the 
sea-shore sands are so free that moisture must pass 
through them as through a sieve. All the salt water 
they contain must be represented by the thin film 
that coats the outside of each particle of sand. 
That coconut plants have a very hard struggle for 
existence on the sea-shore against salt-laden winds 
does not affect the argument one way or the other. 
I said that it was difficult to imagine a soil in our 
Island, exposed as it is to violent monsoon storms, 
quite devoid of salt, so that I admit that salt reaches 
us on the "wings of the wind," but my belief is 
that we do not receive it in sufficient quantity to 
satisfy the wants of our coconut trees. It is kind 
of the Observer to credit me with being sane and 
sensible generally. I do not believe that I am quite 
bereft of these valuable attributes. But when I am 
accused of writing " wildly " by attributing to me 
what I did not say, the accusation recoils on the head 
of the accuser. I nowhere in my communication un- 
der notice advocated the use of salt in "almost 
unlimited quantities," for I know that coconut 
palms cannot live by salt aloDe. It is uufair to 
credit me with the bald statement that " salt can 
never be present in too large quantities in a soil on 
which coconuts thrive." Take the whole sentence 
please and refute it if you can, Mr. Observer. " Ob- 
servation shows us that salt &c, &c," And what fol- 
lows ? " On the sea-shore the trees seem none the 
worse for the salt-laden waves that break at their 
