May i, 1888.J THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
tissues, must be kept in a healthy and vigorous state, 
it will tako another sum of R20 per acre to supply 
in duo proportion the other elements necessary to 
the plant. 
It has been asserted that phosphate nets as a 
stimulant that causes temporary heavy bearing, 
which weukens the tree, and is followed by barren- 
ness. I think this is to be accounted for otherwise 
than by the stimulating quality of the phosphate. 
There are other elements that enter into the com- 
position of coconuts besides phosphates, the poonac 
is rich in nitrates, and as the barrenness complained 
of takes place, while there remains an abundant 
supply of the former in the soil, tho cause of barren- 
ness is more probably caused by the deficiency of 
nitrates than the excess of phosphates. I should, 
therefore say that tho planter who is not prepared to 
keep up tho duo proportion of nitrates in the soil, 
lias no business to meddle with phosphates, for it 
is only the tree rendered vigorous by the one that 
can avail of the other. 
All organic matter in the course of decomposition, 
supplies plant food, but different substances yield 
it iu different measure ; the most universally ap- 
proved article is the dung of herbivorous animals, 
which will convert, at least, its own weight of 
less tractable stuff into excellent manure. Un- 
fortunately, however, the supply is very much less 
than the demand, and it is not a manufacture 
that can be extended at will. I once kept one 
hundred and odd head of cattle that grazed the 
cstato, supplemented with poonac at will. I had 
the command of extensivo deniyas that grew ferns 
and coarso grass, with which the cattle-sheds were 
fresh littered daily, and my turn-out of manure 
was under 150 cubic yards per annum, with which 
I was able to manure 1,200 trees. As there was 
over 10,000 trees on tho estate, it required 13 years 
to go over them all, and the manure was wholly 
used up by the end of the sixth year, so that, 
however praiseworthy this manure may be, the 
quantity that can bo produced gives but a poor chance 
for keeping up -tho fertility of an estate. For a 
further supply of nitrogenous manure, our resources 
are in coconut poonac, the natural manure of 
tho tree, castor cake, rish manure, and some other 
substances available in special localities, but not 
worth the cost of transport to any considerable dis- 
tance. Uf manufactured manures, or the various salts 
of nitrogen, I car. say nothing, as I have never used 
them. The other manurial resources locally available 
on a coconut Held are scanty ; tho by-products 
of the trees are very bulky, but probably the 
poorest in fertilizing olemonts of all vegetable 
substances. If tho leaves are piled in large heaps, 
they will, with time, rot down into manageable 
dimensions, but the husks arc utterly intractable. 
So far as I can judge by numerous experiments, 
their manurial valuo will not pay for tho labour 
of placing them; buried in the soil they tako seven 
years to thoroughly rot, and they do not rot down 
into humus, but gradually wear thinner, and linally 
disappear without leaving a trace in the soil. 
Whatever tho capacity of coir dust to absorb and 
retain moisture may bo, its powers in this direction 
arc not very striking when bound up with the 
fibre in its natural situation. All organic mutter.-; 
left to decompose on the surface pass away without 
in uny way, serving thu cultivated plant, therefore 
the herdsman should curry a muinoty to turn in 
all thu dropping ■ of the e.atle, all herbaceous weeds 
should bu buried in shallow holes, and nil ligneous 
ones buried and their ashes turned in, as the work 
goes on nothing that may servo the main purpose 
should be neglected, however Uilliugu may appear, in 
detail, 
When a coconut field is to be manured, whatever 
the quantity or quality of the material used, tho 
most efficient mode of application is to spread 
it as equally as possihle over tho surface, omitting 
circles of 0 or 7 feet in diameter round the stems 
of tho trees, which should never be touched, and 
turning it in with the mamoty. The plough would 
be a more economical instrument, if either trained 
cattle or trained ploughmen were to be obtained. 
♦ 
Petroleum. — The Odessa Messenger states that 
India is becoming one of the largest consumers of 
Russian petroleum in the world. In 1887 more than 
2,000,000 poods were exported from Batoum for that 
destination, and in January alone, for the present 
year, as much as 400,000 poods were shipped at that 
port for the East Indies. — Times of India, April 3rd. 
Our Coconut Estates. — The severe and prolonged 
drought is telling very much on vegetation iu general, 
and on coconut trees in particular. Passing along 
the central road as far as Elephant l'ass several 
times duriDg the last two mouths, I noticed that 
the estates on either sido are not in good bearing. 
Those who have seen more of these estates than a 
passer-by like myself - pre of the same opinion. 
The soil of the Pacbchillapalli estates is very saudy, 
and it is generally during seasons of severe drought 
such as tho present that the trees begiu to wither aud 
die. Some few estates are still in a good couditiou. — 
Oor., " Ceylon Patriot." 
The Approaching China Tea Season. — The 
Foochow Echo says : — In the tea districts the usual 
preparations for the new leaf are rumoured to be 
very gloomy for the coming season. ' Doubts ' 
seem to be the order of the day in all matters con- 
cerning the business. Last year was certainly a 
very salutary one, as a lesson to many of our 
enterprising but penniless celestial tea merchants, 
who we positively blame to be the cause of all 
the deterioration in quality and price, for they are 
the real inventors and sellers of the tremendous 
amount of rubbish that is placed on the market 
every year, and the result is that other respectable 
dealers who used to buy and place on the market 
pure leaf, are now compelled to give up any idea 
of fair dealing in order to remain in the trade at 
all. If a clean sweep of this grand class of tea 
dealers can be effected, China tea will be at onco 
elevated to its old standard which the world so 
much appreciated. 
" Mincixolanism " : Tue Cincuona Market. — 
Some curious information respecting t he doings 
of London and Amsterdam authorities on tho 
Cinchona market will bo found on page 721, 
from the latest Chemist and Druggut. The writer 
of tho Amsterdam Report on Java Bark of De- 
cember last, which created so much sensation, 
now oomes forward in his own name, and to some 
extent defends the position he took up. Rut it 
is clear that he has no personal acquaintance with 
cinchona cultivation in Java, and writes on this 
part of his subject from " hearsay "—hearsay which 
the experience of tho past threo years shows 
us to be, in some respects, at 'least, un- 
trustworthy. At tho samo timo, there is some 
reason in his conclusion, that, if Messrs. Brookes 
& Green had, a good many years ago, sounded an 
alarm over their 10 per cent Java bark, they might 
possibly have dono something to check shipments 
from Ceylon inducing a ruinous fall in price and 
so saved money to planters who rushed into tho 
enterprise with inferior seed. The practical portion 
of Mr. Briegleb's letter, however, is, where he dis- 
tinctly shows, that the analysis for Java burks sold 
in Amsterdam is steadily improving : tho average 
being 12 per cent at iho Jauuury and 1-7 ut 
thu i'ebruury sales, 
