May i, 1889.J THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
789 
would then be better able to give an opinion on 
the vexed question as to which is best for the 
grower,— QUALITY OR QUANTITY. 
Over a quarter million lb. 
Estate, Quantity. 
E A W 
Mariawatte 
510,000 
302,000 
From 200,000 lb. to 250,000 lb. 
VellaiOya .... 233,000 
Wallaha .... 219,000 
Tillvrie 220,000 
From 150,000 lb. to 200,000 11). 
Darrawella 
Imboolpittia 
Waltrim 
Gallamudena 
Kandaloya 
Lebanon 
Pambagama 
17:1,000 
185,000 
180,000 
170,000 
163,000 
160,000 
155,000 
Hope 
Gallebodde 
Westhall 
Fordyce 
Elbeclde 
Gt. Western 
Blackwator 
Rookwood 
Dunedin 
Elston 
Abbotsford 
Chapelton 
Sogama 
Labukellc 
Adam's Peak 
Penylan 
Campion 
Me klecoombra 
Torrington 
W A 
Mipitikaride 
Windsor Forest 
Yuillefield 
Dewalakande 
From 125,000 lb. to 150,000 lb. 
141,000 
.... 150,000 .... 
150,000 
145,000 
141,000 
125,000 
.... 143,000 
137,000 
.... 134,000 
128,000 . ; . . 
.... 134,000 
From 100,000 lb. 120,000 lb. 
' 100,000 
117,000 
111,000 
103,0110 .... 
109,000 
107,000 ' 
119,000 ■ 
111,000 
111,000 
103,000 
106,000 
108,000 .... 
101,000 
Average. 
a. 
Q 
11- 
0 
111 
0 
J 
0 
0 
0 
us 
0 
11a 
0 
0 
11I 
0 
lot 
0 
10J 
0 
10J 
1 
1 
0 
0 
}Jf 
0 
ill 
0 
iij 
0 
iij 
0 
11} 
0 
iH- 
0 
11 
0 
101 
10j 
0 
1 
1 
3 
1 
0 
1 
0 
0 
ii| 
0' 
11s 
0 
11* 
0 
llj 
0 
114 
0 
ni 
0 
11 
0 
10a 
0 
10* 
FUMIGATION IN COCONUT CULTIVATION 
AND THE AGEICULTUEAL SCHOOL. 
Colombo, 10th April 1839. 
Sir, — In a communication on fumigation in 
coconut cultivation on page 759, there are frequent 
references to the Agricultural School as recom- 
mending what the writer terms the " smoke bath 
theory." Let me at the outset deny that the effi- 
cacy of smoke as a manure (smoke-manure ! ) has 
ever formed part of the " teaching of the Agri- 
eu tural School." A report of this nature on 
the authority of "An Old Planter," and given 
publicity in a paper of acknowledged weight in 
agricultural matters, cannot but reflect discredi- 
tably on the reputation of the school, and I could 
not expect less than that the writer of the 
article in question would, as a point of honour 
and from a sense of fair-spiritedness, retract the 
unfounded charge of our ' teaching ' the absurd 
' nonsense' he writes of. 
The analogy which brings in the old story of 
wily King Charles and the members of the Royal 
Society is not complete. I am not inclined to 
deny in ioto, like the sage roferred to, the efficacy 
of burning at the base of the tree. In your foot- 
note you mention the b:reficial effect of smoke in 
ridding the palm of insect and animal pests. There 
is, moreover, the nianurial value of the residual 
mineral ashes to be taken into account. Where the 
op« ration of paring and burning is carried on in clayey 
and peaty soils (and I am told it is practised in 
parts of the island), the improvement of the soil, 
both chemically and mechanically, is very great. 
The soil is thereby made open and porous, and 
is brought into a condition favourable for the 
absorption of moisture and ammonia from the 
atmosphere. Potash is liberated, the proportion as 
shown by analysis increasing from "269 to -94. 
The old roots of tough grasses and weeds, together 
with their seeds, are destroyed where they exist. 
Insects and their eggs are also destroyed. Thus, 
where paring and smother -burning is properly 
carried out, I say there is much good derived. 
There is some confusion when the subject of 
the sources of oarbon in the plant is taken up. 
The leaves take in carbonic acid gas from the 
atmosphere, and not carbon, as your correspondent 
imagines. The former is a colourless transparent 
gas, and the volume of smoke rising from a fire 
bears no proportion to the volume of carbonic acid 
gas produced : in fact the denser the smoke the 
greater is the amount of unoxidized carbon 
atoms, and it has yet to be proved that plants 
take in particles of carbon through their leaves. 
Again the writer says that " it is more pro- 
bable that the supply of carbon (sic) in the at- 
mosphere is in excess of the wants of vegetable 
life." It is not a probability, but a certainty. Prof. 
Roscoe estimatts the weight of C>) 2 in the at- 
mosphere at three biliions of tons. Prof. Crum 
Brown asser.s that if all breathing ceased, plants 
would have a sufficient supply of C0 2 in the 
atmosphere to flourish for "very many years" : while 
Archibald McAlpine, the eminent agricultural bota- 
nist, fixes this period at about a thousand years, 
We must not lose sight of the many great sources 
of CO 2 besides the expired breath of animals. 
The" whole performance entitled "Fumigation" 
reminds one of a favourite game among very little 
children, of setting up a dummy as an imaginary 
enemy and knocking it down with a great flourish. 
We may n»xt expect to see two columns of an 
article written with the object of upsetting the 
theory that the coconut tree flourishes on the sound 
of the human voice — " the efficacy of voice-manure" 
might be the title of the article. There would be no 
objection to this, but let it not be said — and falsely 
said, mind — that the School of Agriculture taught 
the new theory. 
I am a raid that the School is not likely to be 
closed on "Old Planter's" recommendation, and may 
I beg that it will not again be so carelessly mis- 
represented '?— Yours faithfully, C. D. 
CEYLON IN THE PARIS EXHIBITION; 
Cast'ereagh, Dikoya, 15th April 1889. 
Deaji Silt,- The enclosed copy of a letter 
from Mr. H. K. Rutherford is of such importance 
to all interested in tea, that I venture to ask you 
to publish it. With regard to his suggestion that 
agencies be established in Paris to sell pure 
Ceylon tea, I have written Mr. Leake our London 
representative, on the matter (one that the Tea 
Fund will attend to). All interested in Ceylon 
tea may rest assured that their interests are safe 
in the hands of the London Committee and Mr. 
Rutherford, the originator of the Tea Fund. — Yours 
truly, L. H. KELLY, 
Chairman, Ceylon Planters' Association. 
Paris, 23rd March 1889. 
My dear Kelly, — I arrived in Paris from Ceylon 
yesterday, and a few hours after my arrival I. was 
wandertug through the " Exposition Universelle " 
courts and buildings under the guidance of Mons. 
Joubert, the constructor of the Oeylon tea-house, tbe 
Indian Palace and the Queensland Wine chalet. 
I write you merely to give you my opinion of 
the site conceded to the Planters' Association of 
Ceylon for their tea-house. 
In oue word it is simply the most perfect that 
could have been given to us. It is close to the 
base of tho "Teat Eiffel tower, and at the end of a 
