584 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [March i, 1888. 
The following has an intimate bearing on this im- 
portant subject: — "Nearly all soils contain iron; it 
is this that gives them their red color. Iron has two 
oxides : one of them, containing the least amount of 
oxygen, is soluble in water, and is therefore taken 
iuto the roots of plants. Copperas or green vitriol 
is composed of this low or protoxide of iron and 
sulphuric acid. On exposure to the air for a time, 
this low oxide takes in more oxygen and forms sesqui- 
oxide of iron which is insoluble in water. The sub- 
soil, which has never been stirred to admit the 
atmosphere freely, contains the low oxide, aud 
when first turned up if sown or planted soon, the 
roots of the crops take in (his soluble compound of 
iion and are much injured if not killed out- 
right." The last sentence fully explains the perfect 
horror Professor Wallaco and all competent au- 
thorities have of bringing to the surface the un- 
aerated subsoil, more especially that of paddy fields 
which possibly contains most iron owing to the op- 
portunities for aeration being so few. Turn up a 
little of such sub-soil at a time, an inch or two each 
year, let it be exposed to the air and frost for a few 
months, and it will become innocuous. The new 
elements of plant food in this new soil will even act 
as a useful fertilizer." 
According to the usual native modes of paddy culti- 
vation, ploughing is never resorted to except at the 
commencement of the rains, so that the fields 
may be submerged immediately after the ploughing 
so as to kill the weeds and grasses displaced by the 
plough. The operation is repeated more than once, 
the land being constantly submerged, so that aeration 
to render innocuous the poisonous iron compounds 
ia never possible. When the fields lie fallow, water, 
as long as it is obtainable, is turned on the field, so 
that even partial aeration takes place only in a season 
of prolonged drought when no water is available. 
From the light of Mr. Cochran's experiments and the 
extract 1 have given, it is apparent that a revolution 
in the preparation of fields for paddy cultivation is 
necessary before we can expect better returns from 
our fields. (Can it be that the higher returns of rice 
fields in India are due to the more severe and more 
prolonged droughts that are common there, than to 
an intrinsic superiority of soil ?) It becomes the duty 
of revenue officers to make widely known the results 
of Mr. Cochran's experiments and the absolute ne- 
cessity for ploughing fields at the beginning of the 
dry season, so that they may be perfectly aerated. 
Surely Mr. Elliott, who has such a deep in- 
terest in paddy cultivation, will take the lead. 
Mr. Cochran's request to have samples of fertile 
paddy soil to analyse should be complied with without 
much delay. Five fertile fields lie between the rail- 
way line at Mahara and the road leading to Mr. ft. 
L. M. Brown's property, and in the Kandyan country 
between the railway line and road leading from 
Peradeniya to Gampola. 
It has become almost an axiom in agriculture 
•that a sandy soil is improved by the addition of clay 
and vice versa. But what is clay? That has sorely 
puzzled some people. What I understand by clay is 
what occurs at the surface as a surface soil aud which 
when deprived of moisture cracks and hardens like 
a biick-soi! that has been cultivated, and not the clay 
that has been brought to the surface from many feet 
below the surface. We must understand the object of 
claying a soil ; it is not merely to give body to it, — very 
necessary in dry cultivation to prevent to rapid evapora- 
tion, but also to add to its fertility. A sandy soil 
is admittedly not a rich soil, therefore the addition 
to it of a substance which itself is not rich will not 
add to its fertility by giving body to the soil. I have 
heard it asserted that because manure without admix- 
ture will not support vegetation and pure clay too 
will not support vegetation, and as by the applica- 
tion of the former to the soil beneficial results 
follow, therefore it can fairly be expected that bene- 
ficial results will follow the application of the latter. 
It is not necessary to seriously refute what is so 
solf-evidently fallacious. There are two grand deter- 
minations of soils, "live" and "dead." The former 
is supposed by the action of " ferments "—chemical 
agencies — to have been quickened into life and is able to 
support vegetation. The latter is beyond the reach of 
thfse agencies and is therefore dead, but cannot be 
quickened by mere exposure to air if it be wanting in 
the necessary constituents, whose presence alone in- 
duces "ferment." Nor can it be rendered fertile by the 
addition of the constituents of a fertile soil. An in- 
stance is recorded of a gentleman, evidently more 
versed in theoretical than in practical agriculture, 
analysing a " dead" soil dug up from some depth aBd 
adding to it the elements of fertility it was wanting in, 
and putting some seed in it to grow. His practical 
gardener shook his head and said he was sure to fail, as 
the soil was "dead." Events proved that the gardener 
was right. 
I alighted by accident on an analysis of Indian clay, 
white with an admixture of red, which is the character- 
istic of our clays, and I append it : — 
Sand... 
41-G7 
Combined Silica ... 
1581 
Alumina 
2627 
Ferric Oxide 
2-51 
Magnesia and Alkalies 
282 
Water 
11-00 
10008 
It will be seen from the above that pure clays are 
composed almost entirely of sand (probably silicious), 
silica and alumina, neither of which plays an important 
part in vegetable ecoDomy, and that therefore they are 
unfitted to support vegetation, besides " if you mix pure 
sand with pure clay, even though you pour into it 
abundantly solutions of ammonia aud all necessary salts, 
the result will be simply an indescribable medley fit 
for no man's land — a muddle, which after a while will 
resolve itself back again into clay and sand." But it is 
said the compound will be rendered fertile by a large 
admixture of stable manure or leaf mould. 
♦ 
Oil from Silkworm Cocoons. — Says the 
Japan Mail : — " A resident of Koshu, who has been 
experimenting with the insides of cocoons, which 
have hitherto been generally used for manure, has 
discovered that a fine oil can be expressed, from 
them at a price 20 to 30 per cent cheaper than 
rape oil, the residuum being a valuable fertilizer 
of the soil." 
Quinine.- — The movement started in America has 
kept the ball rolling on this market, and enormous 
quantities of quinine (nearly all German, in bulk, 
of the B. & S. and Brunswick brands) have changed 
hands since last week. It is said that altogether 
over 250,000 oz. have been done this week. The 
price for German in bulk, which stood at Is 7d. 
at the close of our last report, is now 2s peroz., 
which was paid today. The principal operators on 
this market have been two houses (one bearing an 
English, the other a German name) connected with 
the American trade. The English makers are be- 
lieved not to be lending their support to the move- 
ment, but it is generally thought that they will be 
drawn into it if it should spread. The position of 
the cinchona market and previous experiences of 
similar booms encourage the view that the specu- 
lation may very easily be overdone. Howard's brand 
is still quoted at 2s 3d per oz. ; Pelletier's is now 
the same price (which has been paid), and Whiffen's 
has sold at 2s. According to a New York firm of 
dealers, the cost of producing sulphate of quinine 
from the bark in Germany was formerly estimated 
at 20 marks per kilo, (about 7d per oz.), but im- 
provements in the process of manufacture have now 
brought down the cost, it is estimated, to 5d. per oz., 
including the commission for buying bark, shipping 
charges, and freight to factory (probably from Lon- 
don or Amsterdam), actual cost of manufacturing, 
packing, commission for selling the product, interest 
on the plant, and wear and tear of the factory. — 
Chemist and Druggist, Deo. 3rd, 
