February i, 1889.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
549 
of cast iron with a short handle and treadle. When plant- 
ing out, a drain was cut on the lower side of the nur- 
sery bed, the transplanter was inserted on the upper 
side of the lowest plant and driven home. It was 
then pressed downwards towards the drain, when 
a. half-cylindrical piece of spouting received the 
plant with a " ball " of earth — tin would do as 
well. The plants were carried prone to the field, 
put out, and the piece of iron did duty again. Mr. 
Barber says he found two tiles tied with a piece of 
rope the safest and the cheapest nursery pot. Cheap- 
est because the tiles after serving their purpose as pots 
are utilized for the roofs of buildings ; but how about 
cost of carriage ? This however cannot be placed in the 
balance against the perfect success of the plan, for Mr. 
Barber says he planted 175 acres in this way " and not 
a plant was lost." This success is phenomenal, — I had 
almost written appocryphal. Has any other single 
planter in the country been as successful with his sys- 
tem f 
To white-ants has been accorded the first place of 
honor, or rather dishonor, as the most formidable ene- 
mies of the cacao planter. Many means have been re- 
sorted to to circumvent them. Amongst these Mr. 
Barber mentions kerosene. If kerosene has been found 
a specific against their attacks in the hill country, all 
I can say is that the species there must be decidedly 
more amenable than those I have to deal with, but 
then the place I write from must have been notorious 
eveu in days gone by for their ravages as on the autho- 
rity of your senior it derives its name from the vora- 
cious termite. Phenyle mixed with 100 parts of water, 
is said to be a reliable and safe application at the rate 
of 3oz. to the plant. Mark this well ye coconut 
planters amongst whoso enemies white-ants find a place. 
One recommendation of phenyle is itsextremo cheapness, 
for we are told the cost of it uud of application is but 
5Ui:ts. the acre ! The premier place amongst remedies 
is accorded to kekuua poouac. The olfactories of white 
ants seem to be peculiarly sensitive to th6 offensive 
smell of this substance. One great recommendation of 
kekuua poonac must be that it is a highly fertilizing 
manorial agent as well. In days gone by I was told 
that it was the best manure for colfee. The nitrogenous 
uompouuds it contains ought to give cacao plants a 
Bploudid start. 
As regards shade Mr. Barber speaks like the thought- 
ful aud observant man that he is. He does not go with 
the current and plant origiually under shade. Those 
with observation will readily subscribe to what he says 
that in the earlier period of growth sunlight is essen- 
tially necessary for the formation of a healthy and ro- 
bust plant, l'laut your shade he says after your clear- 
ing. The explanation given aB to why plants in tho 
"in ii stood the last drought better than those under 
the shade of the original jungle trees is hardly con- 
clusive. That a large amount of moisture is evapora- 
ted from the surfaco of growing trees by transpiration 
is woll known, but is not all this moisture especially iu 
dry seasons drawn from the subsoil ? 
A distinction must be drawn between permanent 
and temporary shade. While the former affects the 
young plant injuriously till it has developed, I 
think all planters will agree th»t light temporary 
shade is essoutial for tho well-being of tho plant 
•luring dry seasons. Now that cotton is being tried 
as a shade for tea during the first year of its growth 
is it not well to plant it with cacao too, if for no 
other reason than to shade the soil from the effects 
of the sun which a If eels its porsity and induces wash 'f 
Cacao planters must wait longer than coffee and tea 
planter^ for a return ; what if the iuterval should be 
made to yield « return V 
Juk, tuo different Krythrinas and Albizsia mo- 
luccina are noticed as the pirniineiit •dude trcsemo-t 
in UM, Kicb bus its advocate. Mr. Barber gives 
preference to the Ceylon representative of tho /•>>/- 
thrums, tho rrabuUu used for village fencos. I noticed 
Ik lew yearn i|, ,( 111 a liel I of coffee where the 
bush.ii were all languishing, those under tho erabadus, 
not merely under the shelter of the branches, but 
growing where tho root* seemed to have exteudod, 
wore growing luxuriantly Tho <|Ucation I asked my- 
self then and which I ask of those competent to ex- 
press an opinion authoritatively now, is " Are the roots 
of the erabadu able to favourably affect the mechanical 
and ch( nical condition of the soil ?" As far as I 
am concerned, the chief value I attach to js.k as a 
shade tree is owing to its economic worth, though I 
do not detract from the value of the mould the 
soil receives from its fallen leaves. Nothing grows 
vigorously under it, its roots gain the mastery of every- 
thing else growing in the neighbourhood. Albizzia 
moluccana Mr. Barber says is unsuitable, as it takes 
the entire possession of the field. Whatever returns 
plantains may yield when used as a shade tree are 
entirely swallowed up by the exhaustion of the soil that 
follows its cultivation aid the cost of exterminating it, 
so it is unceremoniously dismissed from consideration. 
To justify my complaint that the importance of 
some of the subjects raised by Mr. Barber in his essay 
demanded greater local publicity than was accorded 
them by publication in the Tropical Agriculturist, I 
have only to instance his weighty remarks on land 
grants to the German Tobacco Syndicate. Taking 
for granted that even/one engaged in agriculture with 
any pretensions to education does read that valuable 
publication, there is the general public, our legislators 
and the press as exponents of the opinion of the 
public that are interested in this important question, 
and before whom it would have been prominently 
brought if the lecture that contained these remarks 
had received publicity in a daily publication.* 
The island is only now recovering from the heavy 
blow inflicted on it by the fell Hemileia vastatrix. Un- 
der the circumstances it is the duty of the Government 
to do all in its power to foster such permauent industries 
as will tend towards the development of its permanent 
resources. Cacao cultivation is as much a permanent in- 
dustry as coconut cultivation, both by reason of the 
great ag* cacao trees are known to attain as by its natural 
inclination to grow in anything but the deepest and 
freest soil. The island does not abound in this des- 
cription of soil. It is to be met with only in the 
valleys lying at the feet of our lower mountain 
ranges. The acreage available is limited, and cacao 
planters naturally watch this ever-decreasing area 
with a very jealous eye. To trench on these small 
reserves by granting them to alieus on special terms 
aud for a form of cultivation the reverse of perma- 
nent is not sound policy. In new colonies where the 
available supply of land is very nigh unlimited no 
immediate harm can result from the system practised 
in tobacco cultivation on a large scale, but with us 
the harm is almost irreparable. 
To make myself understood it will be well to 
briefly describe the system of tobacco cultivation 
on a large scale. A large tract of land is opened 
and planted with this product, a crop harvested, 
the plot abaudoned, and the adjoining plot 
oponed and planted. This annual planting and 
abandonment proceeds till all the land iu hand is 
gone over. Tobacco is well known as an exhausting 
crop and not only is the cream of the soil exhausted in 
the growth of the crop, but also washed out of it by 
our heavy monsoon rains. Planters engaged in the 
cultivation of permanent product* devise means to 
conserve their surface soil, which to them is capital. 
Tobacco cultivation is no new product and requires no 
special fostering care to help towards its develop- 
ment. It has been in the hands of the natives for a 
long time past. The land available to • m being 
limited, they carry on its cultivation accordiug to the 
most approved methods of scientific agriculture, i. e., 
as far as they have acqoired that knowledge instinc- 
tively and by oh ervation. They crop their laud aud 
they restore" the elements of fertility removed by 
that crop hy manuring it with a mi balance most 
readily available. In some parts of the island the 
mammal agont is cittle manure ; in Other DMtp goat 
manure. When the European pioneers of tobacco 
cultivation planted the reserves lyingon the banks of the 
• But only those who ought to seo and tmA the 
T, A. — that is all interested in local Agriculturo— have 
any concern with Land Grants. — Ed. 
