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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [May i, 1889. 
The wise men went to work on the question and 
several explanations were offered, when his Majtsty, 
turning to a member who had remained silent, de- 
manded his opinion. 
" I beg your Majesty's pardon, but I deny the fact," 
was the prompt reply. , , , . 
" Od's fish man, you 're right," cried the king. 
S. K. is not prepared to admit that cocouut trees gulp 
down smoke in moutht'uls like a hungry dug, but he 
is not prepared to deny that good may be done to 
the (re.- in some indirect way. It would have been 
easier to deny the fact like the sage who would 
not be humbugged even by a king. 
To return to the original argument, a field of co- 
conuts is planted and a watch hut erected in the 
midst of it. In the course of a few months the plants 
in the immediate vicinity of the hut take the lead 
of all other parts of the field, those nearest the hut 
being foremost; but the more rapid growth being 
more or less marked within a radius of one hundred 
feet. My friend and myself are in perfect agree- 
ment as to the fact, but we differ widely as to the 
cause : " Smoke,'' says he ; "Manure," say I. " There 
is not sufficient manure made on the spot," says he. 
"No amount of smoke can produce any beneficial ef- 
fect," sav I. " I have seen the most wonderful results 
from occasional fires," says he. "I take 
you up on the proposition that the amount of manure, 
made on the spot, is not adequate to the effect," 
say I. The watchman establishes himself in his 
hut, in company with a dog; later on he adds to his stock 
a cock and three hens, and finally he buys or borrows a 
bullock. The annual manurial value of a single fowl 
has been authoritatively estimated at ten pence; let us 
say fifty cents. We cannot value the dog at less than 
two fowls, or the man and the bullock at less than six 
fowls each. The value of the whole annual produce of 
manure being thus K8 00. This sum will purchase and 
place on the spot nearly 300 lb. of castor cake, a man- 
ure, of which we know tbe market value and its mea- 
sure of fertilizing matter. It contains everything that 
a young coconut requires from the soil; the quantity 
named will give each of 70 plants over 4 lb. yearly, 
thus supplying an amount of fertilizing matter much be- 
yond the requirements of the plant, during the first 
three or four years. In natural manuring all the ferti- 
lizing matter being left on the surface, one half of its 
effect is wasted in weathering, so that the same amount 
of manure turned into the soil, three or four inches 
deep, will give a double result. 
The advantages of manure in coconut cultivation are 
already fully established, scientifically and experiment- 
ally, but those of smoke have still to pass those ordeals, 
before they can meet with acceptance by any man with 
a tincture of scientific knowledge and a habit of scien- 
tific enquiry. Such an one will set no value on a loose 
assertion, but will probably ask you to select a tree 
whose stem has gradually dwindled from one foot to 
six inches with eight or ten leaves, six or eight feet 
in length and that has long ceased to produce even 
barren flowers. Restore this tree to a moderate mea- 
sure of fertility within three or four years by the 
application of smoke without stint or limit, but 
smoke alone ; the most sceptical will then be silenced, 
unless a flaw can be found in the experiment. It 
should always be kept in mind that when great re- 
sults are claimed for an agent hitherto overlooked 
by practical men, and in which scientific men have 
not discovered any of the qualities necessary to the 
production of such results must be subjected to the 
severest tests before it can gain the confidence of 
any but the most ignorant and the most credulous of 
the people. 
Those who believe in the manurial value of vapour — 
Fumists as they may be called— do not belong to 
the class of minds that need philosophic tests to 
base their opinions on. The last fumist with whom I 
conversed had nothing stronger to urge in its behalf 
than the naming of several parties that were practis- 
ing smoke raising, and the teaching of tbe Agricultural 
School. These were in his view proofs positive. On 
the other hand, those who know that the claims put 
forward by the fumists are incompatible with well 
settled facts, will probably allow it to run its course, 
and end as it began in smoke. 
[Our old correspondent is, doubtless, justified in 
making light of the manurial value of smoke, which 
must, even if of good volume at starting, be 
largely attenuated by the time it reached the heads 
of the palm trees at an average altitude of say 
70 feet ; but we cannot help thinking that the 
smoking process must have a beneficial effect in 
clearing or keeping clear of insects, rats, &c, the 
fronds and spathes of the trees ? — Ed.] 
COFFEE AND TEA CONSUMPTION. 
We confess we did not realize the importance 
of the question started two days ago in our 
columns and referred to again yesterday, in 
regard to the relative consumption of tea and 
coffee throughout the world. The common belief 
probably is, that tea is in far more request and 
that the quantity grown and passing through the 
markets of the world is far greater of tea than coffee. 
This idea has no doubt been fostered as much by the 
figures used in statistics as by the fact that tea is so 
much the more popular beverage throughout Great 
Britain and its dependencies. Tea being always 
given in lb., while coffee is referred to in 
tons, bags, piculs or cwt., has, we think, made the 
totals of the former look the more formidable. But 
we think the comparison we afforded yesterday 
is enough to show our readers that there is 
actually, weight for weight, far more coffee than 
tea grown and consumed in the world. 
Our correspondent, however, returns to the charge, 
and he asks, with much force and pertinence, ' what 
have we tea planters and dealers to do with the 
consumption of tea in China, Japan, Java or in any 
other producing country — what is the practical use 
of giving us a comparison which includes the 
home consumption of the tea producers ? ' What 
is wanted is a comparison between the quantities 
of coffee and tea actually thrown on the markets 
of the world ; for it is out of these figures that a 
lesson of much practical importance at this time 
can be evoked for the benefit of those who fear 
for the future of tea. 
We all know that the production of coffee is 
falling off, and that there is not a little risk of 
Brazil crops failing after the fashion which we 
have witnessed in the case of Java, Ceylon and 
a great part of India. Already the rule of alter- 
nate crops seems to be established in Brazil in a 
very marked degree, and we all remember how 
in our own case, within the leaf-disease era, a 
good crop, buoying up our faith in coffee, would be 
followed by a miserably short one, then by a decent 
gathering, and this by a still shorter alternation. 
Now, if Brazil is going to run down in this way, 
what are the enormous multitude of coffee drinkers 
— more especially in the United States and on 
the Continent of Europe — to do ? Are they 
not bound to take to tea, and it is to show 
how large is the field for the aggression of tea 
on coffee that the comparative figures asked 
for by our correspondent are of interest. We have 
more faith in our own estimates of the production 
and consumption of our staples as given in the 
Agricultural Review prefixed to our Directory, than 
in any furnished by London Brokers, though the 
latter doubtless sometimes consult our, among 
