August i, 1887.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 117 
where we are assured fruit iu bushels of all descriptions 
lies rotting on the grouud for want of transport and a 
market. As aproof of Mr. Hulett's thorough earnest- 
ness it may be stated that his homestead has been con- 
siderably neglected in order that all his energies and 
capital might be devoted to erecting necessary buildings 
and machinery used in the manufacture of tea. In his 
labours Mr. Hulett is ably assisted by a grown-up 
famil/ of five sons. One of them takes charge of the 
machinery and saw benches, another solders up the tea 
chests, another works as a carpenter, while the others 
look after the labourers in the plantation. Mr. Green 
showed us some excellent views of the Kearsney estate, 
comprising the different fields under cultivation, the tea- 
house, &.C., which all tend to prove what can be done by 
perseverance to remove the stiarraa on the colony that 
Natal is a land of samples. — Natal Mercury, May 4th. 
[We were going to say that the labour difficulty 
would tell against Natal, but when the father and 
sons of a family work, as here described, the diffi- 
culty disappears, — Ed.] 
GENERAL PLANTING REPORT FROM THE 
CEYLON LOWCOUNTRY. 
Hapitigam Kerala. 
So far July lias been as wet as any former part 
of the monsoon season ; a wot July is not common 
in this part of the country but it occasionally 
occurs. For the last three months we have had 
rain ample for all our purposes and now we are 
getting rather more than we want. It is the 
scanty rainfall betsveen the middle of December and 
the middle of April that tries us : our best, that is 
our richest soils do not stand dry weather well, and 
coconuts — our sole dependence —suffer accordingly. 
A tree that carries from sis to ten gallons of water 
at its top needs a constant supply from the soil. 
The stiff, compact, impervious soil absorbs little 
water, however abundant that may be on the sur- 
face, and it very quickly yields that little to sun 
and wind when the supply ceases. The bankrupt 
soil ceasing to pay its debts to the tree and it 
in turn becomes insolvent, the leaves break down 
prematurely and hang about the stem ; as fresh 
flowers open thoy speedily drop all their germs, then 
the half-grown nuts drop and those that weather the 
season do not finally attain half their natural size. 
When on this deep, rich, heavy loam a coconut tree 
has succeeded in getting its roots down into a region, 
to which ordinary droughts do not reach, it3 fertility 
exceeds that of any other description of soil. I 
am not aware that any experiments have been 
instituted with the view of rendering this kind o£ 
soil more absorbent, but it seems probable that 
deep ploughing or digging, a moderate dressing of 
quioklime and a heavy one of river sand where 
available, would bring it more creditably through 
the dry seasons and very much to the profit of 
its owners. For my own part I have arrived at 
the opinion that a light loamy sand though very 
inferior in the elements of fertility is infinitely to 
be preferred. It is easier and cheaper to supply 
the necessary fertilizers to a comparatively poor 
soil that is mechanically perfect than to put and 
keop a stiff and impermeablo onepf very much higher 
fertility in the necessary mechanical condition. 
Thirteen years ago I planted a piece of this 
rich clayey loam, but the j m_;le grew up so rapidly 
that in six months it was a close cover ten feet 
high and when in the following season I again 
cleared it I found that the wild pigs had destroyed 
fvciy plant. In replanting it in 1S7"). I rooted out 
all iho jungle. The failures of the second year were 
fully ")0 per cont from the action of pigs and other 
oauses, and for seven years I kept planting 
failures annually with tho result that fully teu 
percent of vacancies then exisUd and still remain 
as it was found impracticable to gat up young 
plants. The original plants were very promising 
and many o£ them began to bear in the sixth and 
seventh years, but from that time there was a falling- 
off in cultivation and during the tenth and eleventh 
years nothing was done to it. Now in the twelfth 
year only 43 per cent of the existing plants are 
bearing or show an intention of bearing, and not 
one of the supplies either have done so or show 
any sign. Some of the larger trees bear very heavily 
above 100 nuts in the year and stand the dry 
seasons without much signs of distress, but it is to 
me very evident that the soil is year by year 
becoming more compact and impermeable. I have 
cleared it of undergrowth and have set a herd of 
cattle to keep down the grass and I propose during 
the N.-E. rains to dig it all over to the depth of 
8 inches and keep it in fallow for twelve months, 
operations : that will absorb all its proceeds for two 
years. 
On another place I put out 300 plants in 1879 on 
light and rather poor soil. Nothing was done for it ex- 
cept|keeping down the jungle. One-half perished in the 
first dry season, and as the catttle had the full run of 
the ground for seven years, a large percentage were 
regularly eaten down and dwarfed. In May 1880, 
there were 100 that had formed a more or less length 
of stem and of these six had fruit and another six 
had produced barren flowers, in one case not less 
than 14. In July last year I dug the land mamo- 
tie deep, giving three quarts of fine ground bones to 
each tree that had a foot of stem and nothing but 
the benefit of the digging to those not so furnished. 
During the twelve months I have gathered 120 
nuts from the six trees first in bearing, 29 others 
have produced fertile flowers and 30 have either pro- 
duced barren flowers or have shown their first 
flower sheaths and I estimate that forty more will 
come in within the next twelve months. Then as 
to the rate of bearing: the six trees that began to 
bear early in their seventh year will in this their 
ninth year yield 400 nuts to which the 29 that 
have come in during the eighth year will add 600, so 
that the average yield will be about 2-3 nuts, several 
of the best trees doing their part with over 100 
each. Many of the trees have made ten feet of 
stem during the year and the younger trees are 
equally rapid in their growth, the length of 
leaf having in many cases doubled. The land 
was exceedingly foul when I took it in hand, sat- 
urated with the seeds of annuals and the roots of 
perennials. I fenced in a couple of acres and have 
kept it fallow weeding and digging out roots of the 
perennials, which I have pretty well mastered, but the 
annuals seem inexhaustible, every shower of rain bring- 
ing out a fresh crop hardly less than its predecessor. 
I have given this two acres about 20 tons of cattle 
shed manure and expect great results if not from 
the secondary cultivation I am attempting, from 
the earlier bearing of my trees. I allowed the 
pasture grass to grow on the remainder of the 
land and trusted to hand weeding. I have got it 
into pretty good order no.v, but when I have foul 
land to deal with again I will keep it in fallow 
till the work is done for weeding. The grass has 
cost mor-j than all the other work. 
I have planted 20 acres last year and a like 
extent this year, so that I have now about 90 acres 
of coconuts, quite enough for me to manage. I 
have wrought on thegoyiya iysteni which gives the 
neighbouring villagers a part of the fertility of 
the land for clearing it. I get about 1U0 per acre 
for my share of the crops and R7 for the firewood ; 
in all R17 per acre. Plants, holing, &c, cost R7 
per acre, so that a profit of RIO remains. I fancy 
that the RIO saved on felling u«d clearing, RIO 
