THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST 
[July 2, 1888. 
and have asserted that it would be positively harmful 
to use it for young trees to induce early beiring. 
Hard names were hurled at me, a pigmy, for daring 
to hold an opinion opposed to that of the great 
preacher on bones and for giving expression to it 
too. Hard words break no bones, and I carried on my 
crusade till I have been gratified by unmistakable 
evidence that I have convinced my most un- 
compromising opponent. Let us now join our forcts, 
veteran " W. B. L," and we can reasonably hope to 
storm the great army of coconut planters entrenched 
though they be in a citadel of conservatism and induce 
them to keep pace with the times, and go in for scien- 
tific agriculture. When you advise coconut planters to 
manure their young trees that have shown stem with a 
manure that will develope their constitutions, 1 can fol- 
low your lead, for such teaching is sound and consistent 
with commonsense. All the same I feel that in the 
present state of coconut cultivation the advice is 
thrown away, for where the tendency is so strong to 
get all one can from one's property and to return 
nothing to it in the shape of manure, it is unreason- 
able to hope that people will manure properties that 
give no return at all. It has nowhere been asserted 
to my knowledge that an excess of phosphates in the 
soil causes barrenness to coconut trees : what has 
been asserted is that au excess of phosphates causes 
trees to overbear and draw on their latent strength, and 
that if the general health of the tree is not kept up 
by some other manure it languishes. ," W. B L." is of the 
same opinion now. 
It has lately been asserted that the by-products of 
the coconut tree are the poorest in fertilizing elements 
of all vegetable substances. This view is not supported 
by the results of analyses, which show that the ashes 
of the leaves are specially rich in phosphates of lime 
and the husks in potash, and that both contain large 
quantities of chloride of sodium, lime and magnesia 
besides. Both products, however, I must confess are 
not Very tractable in their natural state as mauurial 
agents, and the cost of getting them under the soil 
is considerable in the stiff soils in which coconuts 
are generally cultivated. AVhat I have hitherto done 
in such a soil has been to heap the leaves round 
the trees, and every other year to turn into the soil, 
in situ, all that had decayed. The husks I buried 
round the tree in shallow trenches with cattle manure. 
I have hit upon a bettor plan for rendering readily 
available the constituents of the leaves. I heap 
them in rows between the lines of trees during the dry 
months when most leaves fall, and after a shower or 
two have fallen, and when danger from fire is lessened, 
I spread them out as wide as is consistent with safety 
and set fire to them during the day, as leaves absorb 
carbonic acid only during the period of sunlight. If 
the leaves are damp the fire will smoulder and will 
envelop the trees in a thick cloud of smoke. Whether 
leaves absorb more carbonic acid when presented to 
them in vast volumes, or whether the pores of the 
leaves assume unwonted activity under the influence 
of the heat generated by the fire, I am not competent 
to say, but an old coconut planter, since deceased, 
in a communication to the Observer, declared that 
" vaporization " increased the number and weight of hiB 
nuts, and with commendable public spirit offered to 
divulge his secret to the G. A. of the Western Pro- 
vince, or to Mr. Green, then A. G. A. of Negombo, for 
the benefit of the natives of the Western Province. 
AVhetber his secret was confided to them or not, I 
do not know, but perhaps it is in the possession of 
his son who now manages a very large coconut estate. 
Inquiry from natives who had been on the estate in 
question went to show that " vaporization " was 
simply placing the trees for considerable periods in an 
atmosphere of smoke, and any substance which on 
being burnt emitted large quantities of smoke was 
burnt with the branches. Supposing that benefit did 
arise from this system, it cannot be credited to smok- 
ing alone as soils undergo mechanical, and possibly 
chemical changes as well on being burnt, and then 
there are the ashes which are a valuable manure. 
Possibly all these ocmbined, produced the results at- 
tributed to smoke alone. To return to what I hare 
just been practisinj.', after the leaves have been burnt 
I spread out the ashes and turn them iuto the ground. 
On sandy flats, where the soil is so much in need 
of body and where the cost of burying bulky sub- 
stances is not heavy, I would bury husk-> and branches 
in trenches cut anywhere and everywhere, aud sprinkle 
on tbeui quicklime to hasten decomposition. Perhaps 
the cheapest method of utilizing the husks in 
soils where the cost of burying them is prohibitive 
is to burn them where the nuts are peeled, and to mix 
the ashes with the artificiil manures generally in use 
and apply the mixture according to approved methods. 
If husks in decomposing do not turn into humus 
" but gradually wear thinner aud finally disappear 
without leaving a trace in the soil," I wonder what 
does become of them. Is it suggested that they evapo- 
rate and are dissipated into space ? 
♦ 
DRUG REPORT. 
(From the Chemist aud Drugyist, June^nd.) 
Annatto. — Several parcels seed were offered, aud 
partly disposed of at extremely low rates, 2d per lb. 
being accepted for good bright Indian seed, and Id per 
lb. for 20 barrels (in one lot) dark and common Oeylon. 
Brazillian roll annatto neglected ; fine Parajbought in at 
Is 8d per lb. nominally. 
Cinchonidine Sulphate. — A parcel of 47,000 ounces 
sulphate of cinchonidine, "Brunswick " brand, 100-oz. 
tins, was offered, but although the auctioneer stated 
that it "had to be sold," yet when he found that Id. 
per oz. was the highest bid obtainable he refused to 
sell, and named l^d. per oz. as his price. The same 
parcel has been offered before without success. Nomi- 
nally Howard's cinchonidine sulphate is quoted at 
4d. per oz. for bulk, and Od. per oz. for vials. 
Cinnamon. — The quarterly auctions, held on Mon- 
day, included 1,726 bales Oeylon, as compared with 
1,609 bales at the April sales. A dull toue prevailed, 
and barely 4.000 bales found buyers at previous rate, 
to a decline of |d. per lb., values for Oeylon ranging as 
follows : — First — medium to superior, 8Jd to Is 4d. ; 
low, 6|d. — Second— good to fine, lOd to Is Id. ; low to 
medium, 5|d to 9id. Third — medium to fine, 8d to 
9§d.; low to Mr, 5Jd to 7§d. Fourth— good, 7Jd to 
8£d.; low to medium, 5d to 6§d. New Tellicherry 
sold as follows: — Quill, 7§d to 9d. ; broken, 5d to 6|d. 
Nux Vomica. — The arrivals since last week consist 
of 67 bags, per " Fozle," from Bombay ; and 124 
bags, per "Olan Fraser," from Colombo. On May 
8 tli there was said to be still 200 maunds in stock 
in Calcutta. 
Vanilla.— 286 tins mostly of rather ordinary quality, 
were all sold at full prices : fair, 4J to 7g inch, 9s. 
to 18s. ; fine crystallised, 7J to 9 inch, 20s. to 24s. ; 
foxy, 3J to 7J inch 5s. to lis. 6d. ; damp chocolate, 
4 to 7J inch, 7s. to 16s. 6d. per lb. The shipments 
from the Mauritius up till April 10th were 68,801 
kilos., against 34,050 kilos, and 51,073 kilos, on the 
respective dates of 1887 and 1886. Nothing definite 
could yet be said regarding the coming crop. We 
received four cases from Oeylon this week per " Olan 
Fraser." 
THE DUTCH MARKET. 
Amsterdam, May 29th. 
Cinchona. — The next auctions here will be held on 
June 7th, and will comprise 242 cases and 1,263 bales 
Java bark, and 16 bales Oeylon bark, consisting of:— 
Succirubra. — Quills, 131 cases ; broken quill-i and chips, 
2 cases 78 bales; root, 6 cases] 13 bales. C. Schuhkraft. 
— Quills, 12 cases; broken quills and chips, 10 bales ; 
root, 1 bale. Ledyeriana. — Quills, 2 cases 7 bales ; bro- 
ken quills and chips, 50 cases 674 bales ; root, 213 
bales. Officinalis.— Broken quills and chips 181 bales ; 
root, 14 bales. Lancifolia — Broken quills and chips, 28 
bales. Hybrid. — Quills, 18 cases; broken quills and chips, 
21 cases 33 bales; root, 11 bales. Ceylon. — Broken quills 
and chips, 16 bales. The total weight of this bark 
is about 106 tons, of which about 84 tons are manu- 
facturers' bark, containing the equivalent of about 
7,900 lb. or about 4 per cent sulphate of quinine, and 
about 22 tons druggists bark. 
